Continuous wire-drawing machine



May 7, 1940. c. D. JOHNSON CONTINUOUS WIRE-DRAWING MACHINE Filed Nov. 5, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Flgl.

- lnvenToT.

' Charles D.U0hnson ATTyS.

l @WW com-mucus WIRE-DRAWI'NG MACHINE Filed Nov. 5, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 lnvenToT:

Charles Dqdohnson 6! MW ATT S.

May 7, 1940 I D- HN N 2,199,493

CONTINUOUS WIRE-DRAWING MACHINE Filed NOV. 5, 1938 5 Shets-5heet 3 lnvenToT.

0 6 Charles DmJohnson byWMlW ys.

Patented May 7, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE to Johnson Steel & Wire Company,

Inc.,

Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 5, 1938, .Serial No. 239,107

7 Claims.

This invention relates to wire-drawing machines of that type in which the drawing drum has associated therewith an'element adapted to contain dry lubricant, and means are provided for directing the dry lubricant on to the wire and on to the wire-receiving surface of the drum as the wire is delivered to and wound thereon.

A device of this type is illustrated in my Patent 1,948,664, dated February 2'7, 1934.

In the device illustrated in said patent, the drawing drum has rigid therewith a dry lubricant-containing flange situated directly below the wire-receiving surface of the drum and-which carries a quantity of lubricant in dry powder form, and a plow element is employed which acts on the dry lubricant thereby to direct or plow the dry lubricant against the wire receiving surface of the drum at the point where the wire is delivered thereto. Both the wire and the drum thus receive sufficient lubrication so that the wire will not be injured by any slippage which occurs between the wire and the drum, and as the wire leaves the drum to be led through the next die said wire will carry sufficient dry lubricant to give it proper lubrication.

The machine illustrated in said patent functions satisfactorily as long as the drum is rotating at a moderate speed, but if the speed of the drum is increased beyond a certain point, the centrifugal force tends to throw the dry lubricant 01f from the flange, and, therefore, the speed of operation of a device such as shown in said Patent 1,948,664, is limited to the speed at which the drum can be rotated without having the dry lubricant thrown off from the lubricant-containing flange by centrifugal force.

In my present invention, I have provided a novel construction by which the speed of rotation of the drawing drum can be greatly increased without subjecting the dry lubricant to suflicient centrifugal action to discharge it from the drum.

I accomplish this end by making the lubricantcontaining member separate from the drum and mounting it coaxially therewith, and by providing means to rotate the lubricant-containing member independently from the drum.

With this construction, it is possible to rotate the drum at an increased speed thereby increasing the speed of production of the wire-drawing machine, and at the same time to rotate the lubricant-containing member at a slow enough speed so that the dry lubricant will not be thrown off therefrom by centrifugal action.

In order to illustrate my invention, I have shown in the drawings a selected embodiment thereof which will now be described after which the novel features will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a section on the line l-l, Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the drawing drums of a continuous wire-drawing machine showing the dry lubricant containing member associated therewith;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3, Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the plow element for plowing the lubricant against the drawing drum;

Fig. 5 is a plan view illustrating a continuous wire-drawing machine having my improvements embodied therein;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating suitable means for rotating the lubricantcontaining members.

Referring first to Fig. 5, there is shown therein a series of wire-drawing drums l of a continuous wire-drawing machine, and at 2 are indicated the dies through which the wire 2| is drawn.

As the wire is delivered from any die 2, it passes around a cooling roll 3 and then passes or is delivered to the next drawing drum I, said wire being wound around the drum a sufficient number of times to provide the necessary traction to draw the wire through the die. From the drum I the wire passes to a second die, then around a second cooling drum, and then to the third drawing drum around which ,it makes several turns to provide the necessary traction, and so on.

After having been drawn through the entire series of dies, the completed wire is wound on an accumulating drum 4.

Each drawing drum l is fast on the upper end of a vertical shaft 6, and the shafts 6 for the various drums are driven from a driving shaft 1 which'extends longitudinally of the machine, the driving connection between the driving shaft I and each drum shaft 6 being in the form of meshing bevel gears 8 and 9, one of which is fast chamber or trough ll situated exterior to the drum and directly below the wire-receiving surface l2 of the drum, this chamber being adapted to contain a suitable dry lubricant I3 which may conveniently be in powdered form.

I have stated above that the lubricant-carrying member ID is separate from the drum and is adapted to be separately rotated. This lubricant-carrying member ID is shown as carried by a sleeve member [4 through which the shaft 6 extends and in which said shaft has a bearing, the sleeve I4 being supported in the frame or table l5 through the medium of suitable bearings IS.

The upper end of the lubricant containing member ID is shown as being recessed at H, and a ball bearing 18 located in the recess serves to provide a suitable bearing or support for the upper end of the drum shaft 6.

The sleeve I4 is provided with a gear l9 which meshes with and is driven by driving gear 20, said driving gear 20 providing means for rotating the lubricant-containing member Ill which is separate from the means for rotating the drum I.

The lubricant-containing member 10 has associated therewith means which becomes operative when said member is rotating to plow the dry lubricant I3 in the trough II on to the wire-receiving surface 12 of the drum and on to the wire at the point where the wire is delivered to the drum.

This means is in the form of a plow or deflector 22, the lower portion 23 of which occupies the trough II and the upper portion 24 of which extends above the portion of the drum on which the wire is received. The upper portion 24 of the plow is also shown as curved inwardly toward the drum.

This plow is stationarily mounted and it is herein shown as carried by an arm 25 mounted on the upper end of a post 26 rising from the table or frame I5.

The plow 22 has a portion 21 lying against the inside of the outer wall 28 of the trough II and a portion 29 extending across said trough.

As the lubricant-containing member 10 rotates in the direction of the arrow a, Fig. 2, the dry lubricant [3 in the trough l I will pile against the stationary plow 22 and will bediverted or directed thereby against the wire-receiving surface l2 of the drum and against the wire 2| as it is wound thereon, as shown at 30 in Figs. 1 and 2, thereby supplying both the wire-receiving surface and wire with the necessary lubricant.

Since the lubricant-cqntaining member ID can be rotated independently of the drum I, it is possible to speed up the rotation of the drum, thus increasing the output of the machine, and at the same time to rotate the lubricant-containing member I 0 at a sufilciently slow speed so that the dry lubricant will not be thrown out of the trough by the centrifugal action.

The lubricant-containing member I0 is shown as having a second trough 3| outside of the trough II, this trough 3| serving to catch and retain any dry lubricant which spills over the wall 28 of the trough H.

I have also shown a second plow 32 similar to the plow 22 but which operates in the outer trough 3|, this plow 32 serving to plow the lubricant [3 which accumulates in the trough 3| back into the inner trough I I, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The plow 32 is shown as carried by an arm 33 which is mounted on a post 34 rising from the table or frame [5.

While it is within the invention to provide separate means for rotating the various lubricantcontaining members [0 of a continuous wiredrawing machine, yet it will be convenient to provide suitable gearing connecting the sleeves M of the various lubricant-containing members In so that they may be all operated from a single driving member.

Such a construction is shown fragmentarily in Fig. 6 wherein each sleeve M has a gear I9 thereon and the gears IQ of adjacent drums are connected by an intermediate gear 40. With this construction a single driving member 20 will sufiice for rotating all of the lubricant-containing members I0.

While I have illustrated a selected embodiment of my invention, I do not wish to be limited to the constructional features shown.

I claim: 4

1. A wire-drawing apparatus having a drawing die, a drawing drum provided with a wire-receiving surface on which wire is wound after passing through the die, a rotary lubricant-carrying member coaxial with and encircling the drum and adapted to contain a, dry lubricant, means to rotate the drum, other means to rotate the lubricant-carrying member at a different speed from that of the drum, and means cooperating with the lubricant-carrying member and rendered operative by the rotation thereof to deliver the dry lubricant carried thereby against the wirereceiving surface of the drum.

2. A continuous wire-drawing apparatus having a plurality of drawing drums around which the wire to be drawn passes successively, a drawing die for each drawing drum, an annular lubricant-carrying member coaxial with the encircling each drum and adapted to contain dry lubricant, means to rotate the drums, means to rotate each lubricant-carrying member at a slower speed than that at which the corresponding drum rotates, and means cooperating with each lubricant-carrying member to deliver the dry lubricant carried thereby against the wire-receiving surface of the drum as said member rotates.

3. A continuous wire-drawing apparatus having a plurality of drawing drums around which the wire to be drawn passes successively, a drawing die for each drawing drum, an annular lubricant-carrying member coaxial with and encircling each drum and adapted to contain dry lubricant, means to rotate the drums, means to rotate each lubricant-carrying member at a slower speed than that at which the corresponding drum rotates, and a plow element cooperating with each lubricant-carrying member to deliver the dry lubricant carried thereby against the wire-receiving surface of the drum as said member rotates.

4. A continuous wire-drawing apparatus having a plurality of drawing drums around which the wire to be drawn passes successively, a drawing die for each drawing drum, an annular trough-shaped element coaxial with and encircling each drum, each trough-shaped element adapted to carry dry lubricant, means to rotate the drums, means to rotate each trough-shaped element at a speed slower than the corresponding drum, and a plow element cooperating with each trough-shaped element to deliver the dry lubricant carried thereby against the wire-receiving surface of the drum as said element rotates.

5. A continuous wire-drawing apparatus having a plurality of drawing drums around which the wire to be drawn passess successively, a drawing die for each drum. an annular lubricant-carrying member coaxial with and encircling each drum, each member having two concentric open channels, each adapted to contain a dry lubricant, means to rotate the drum, means to rotate each lubricant-carrying member at a slower speed than that of the corresponding drum, a plow element operating within the inner channel to deliver the dry lubricant therein against the wire-receiving surface of the drum as said member rotates. and a second plow operating in the outer channel and operating during rotation of said member to plow the dry lubricant in the outer channel into the inner channel.

6. A wire-drawing apparatus comprising a drawing die, a rotary drum having a wire-receiving surface from which the wire is delivered to the die, means to draw the wire through the die, a rotary lubricant-carrying member adapted to contain dry lubricant, said member being coaxial with the drum and encircling the latter and also mounted for rotation independently of the drum, means to rotate the drum, thereby to deliver the wire to the die, other means to rotate the lubricant-carrying member at a slower speed than that of the drum, and means cooperating with the lubricant-carrying member and rendered operative by the rotation thereof to deliver the dry lubricant carried thereby against the wire-receiving surface of the drum and the wire wound thereon.

7. A Wire-drawing apparatus comprising a drawing die, a rotary drum having a wire-receiving surface from which the wire is delivered to the die, means to draw the wire through the die, an annular trough shaped element coaxial with and encircling the drum and adapted to carry dry lubricant, said trough-shaped element being mounted for rotation independently of the drum, means to rotate the drum, thereby to deliver wire to the die, other means to rotate the troughshaped element at a slower speed than that of the drum, and a plow element cooperating with the trough-shaped element and operating to deliver the dry lubricant carried thereby against the wire-receiving surface of the drum as said element rotates.

CHARLES D. JOHNSON.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,199,b,95. May 7; 191m.

CHARIES D. JOHN'SCN.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2, second column, line 59, claim 2, for the article "the" read and; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

' Signed and sealed this 11th day of June, A. D. 191w.

Henry Van Arsdale,

(Seal) Acting Commis sioner of Patents. 

